Pirates All-Star closer Jason Grilli will be placed on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to April 21, with a left oblique strain.

The club officially made the announcement early Friday evening, while also noting that as a corresponding move, reliever Jared Hughes has been recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis. An interesting thing happened after that. It was revealed that Hughes was active on Thursday, which wouldn't allow the Pirates to backdate Grilli's DL stint. Thus, the transaction was never finalized and Grilli was technically active for Friday's game against the Cardinals -- even though he was obviously never available.

So expect Grilli to actually be placed on the DL, officially, Saturday.

Grilli, 37, has struggled in the early going here in 2014. He's blown three of his seven save chances with a 4.50 ERA and 1.38 WHIP. He only blew two saves -- in 35 chances -- all of last season.

With Grilli on the shelf, expect fellow All-Star Mark Melancon to fill in, just as he did in 2013. Mark Melancon has picked up where he left off last season, too, as he has a 1.64 ERA and 0.73 WHIP in 11 innings this year.